Slide 1 and 2 just introduction

Slide 3 First Picture

Fracturing in general understanding refers to creating fractures or fracture
channels in the reservoirs by applying proper pressure base such as hydraulic, pneumatic
etc. Fracturing is usually applied in the reservoirs where formations are deposited tightly,
and the reservoir permeability doesn’t reach economical limit.
In hydraulic fracturing fractures are created by pumping down of liquid into the reservoir.
The pressure created by liquid should overcome the formation fracture pressure in order to
impair the strength of the reservoir rock. characterization of the fracturing liquid is one of
main issues in hydraulic fracturing
Water-sensitive formations requires oil-based fluid due to avoid clay swelling and flowing of
finer grains. Also, LPG and foams can be used for keeping the proppant conductivity in high
level. The proppant is used in hydraulic fracturing for keeping fractures open. Proppant can
be either naturally or artificially created. Crystalline silica is an example of natural proppant
whilst some artificial proppant can be created by ceramic . If improper fluid used in
fracturing, this leads to minimize the life of proppant, and consequently decreasing the
productivity.

Slide 3 Second Picture

Another type is explosive fracturing which is waterless and In shale gas wells propellant
fracturing is widely used starting from 1980s propellants began to replace explosive charges
because of the formation and wellbore damage and safety issues. The propellants are not
exploded, they just burn away. When propellant is deflagrating, it creates high pressurized
gas which split away reservoir rocks instead of compacting them like occurs in
explosions,The propellant reaches the fracturing pressure slower than explosives faster
than hydraulic fracturing. The picture on the right side gives illustration of three fracturing
technique.

The GasGun is an innovative explosive fracturing technique which uses propellant to

create star shaped fractures. The star shaped fractures are 10-50 feet apart from the well
and those radial fractures has great impact on mitigation of formation damage and hence
enhancing production rate.
The main advantages of the explosive fracturing are waterless usage and no
requirements for chemical supporting. As water is not used, the formation damage
generated by using improper fluids are avoided. Moreover, there is no need for utilizing
packer assembly since it is possible to fracture specially chosen zones. The relative
permeability to gas or oil doesn’t influenced by explosive fractures as water is not used. By
comparing to hydraulic fracturing explosive fracturing can also be considered more
economic feasible.

Slide 4
Thermal fracturing refers to using cold water, that temperature is lower than the temperature
of the formation, in purpose of demolish heat balance of the rock and create thermal stress.
although, fluids are used in this technique we cannot relate it to hydraulic fracturing since
the fractures are not generated by high pressure of the liquid. The thermal stress followed
by opening new fractures in the both oil and gas wells. In high temperature wells cold water
is delivered to the formation, after some time it is observed that injection rate is rising, and it
means fractures are generated and fluid loss to the formation.
Moreover, beside cold water, CO2 can also be applied . ‘
. High amount of CO2 is injected to the formation and throughout the process the liquid
state of CO2 is kept. The temperature of the liquid is also kept in very low level and the
temperature in wide area around the injection well is reduced and thermal stress is occurred
in the reservoir rock. This process is long even the production can start in tight gas wells
after several months or even 2 years. During the initial months the injection is prompted by
hydraulic pressure because as mentioned before the fractures caused by thermal stress are
created after long time.
One of the main advantage of using thermal fracturing by utilizing CO2 is the possibility
of generating industrial symbiosis in onshore application of the technique, by applying the
emitted CO2 from the different plants reduces also the level CO2 releases to the
environment. Also, it is economically beneficial since it reduces the need for the water. Also,
in CO2 based thermal fracturing, the water usage is extinct and the problem of the reactivity
of the formation material with water and chemical additives is vanished away. Furthermore,
the recovery factor of the gas wells is increased because the injected Carbon Dioxide is
absorbed by shale.

Slide 5 First picture

The initial step is creating fracture at the section closest to tie in horizontal well, the
production rate test is carried out. The section then filled with gel usually containing some
amount of sand. The results decide the future of the fracturing technique, if the test is not
failed the next section is fractured by repeating the same technique. So, the tests that are
carried in the second section is formation test and production. If the results of the second
section are positive the first gel plug is vanished away. The process is repeated for different
sections. After all sections are fractured the commingled flow regime is permitted and new
formation test is carried out for mixture of the production.
The main advantage of the gel complex-slug fracturing in horizontal wells is that it helps to
minimize sand flow from the formation

Second One
Slide 5 Second pic
As seen from the figure above the two-packer assembly is constructed on the tube that
is carrying jet fluid. Initially the fracturing tube is entering the upmost perforated zone and
the zone is held between two packers. So, as packers isolate other near zones the jet fluid
is sent to the formation and the fractures are created. Then the tube pulled back and now
the far packer now isolating the first fractured zone and the second zone requires fracturing
is held between packers. As the fracturing process is completed in the zone the process is
repeated for all zones and the fracturing of different zones is become possible by lowering
the pipe once by saving a lot of time.
Using the jet perforating horizontal wells makes it more laborious process as higher amount
of pressure is required to deliver the jet fluid to required zones. Moreover, the moving and
installation of packers is more difficult in horizontal wells due to deviation angle.

Slide 5 Third Pic

Frac Plug is used in both horizontal and vertical wells. The installation of the frac plugs can
be carried out by wireline, coiled tubing or thread pipe. There is internal check valve which
is responsible for controlling flow before and after fracturing. The ball is used to close
internal check valve and the ball is delivered to valve with two methods, either ball is
connected to the end of the pipe which is lowered into the wellbore or the valve can be
dropped separately. After the fracturing carried out the valves are opened, and fluid is to be
produced.
In the picture on the right-hand side the FracXion plugs are appeared. The bottom part of
the plugs is designed as hollow and this design reduce the size of debris after fracturing. If
debris size large, higher pressure is required to circulate back debris, especially in
horizontal wells. This is why sometimes underbalance condition is created in the wellbore
due to pulling back of the debris from the fractures and this jeopardize the well stability. So,
in order to decrease the debris size hollow button sleeves are used in the FracXion plugs.

Slide 6 first picture

Packer staged fracturing technology is one of the widespread techniques applied on tight
formations, and the application of packer fracturing technique is similar to packer
installations in the hydraulic jet perforations. The tool is sent to the well and the packers are
sealing the annulus between different fracturing zones. The packers can be actiated by
hydraulic pressure. In this activation a ball is sent as initial step and it close the area at the
end of pipe. So, applied hydraulic pressure cannot release because of the ball and the
packers become squeezed and enlarged as the result of increased pressure. The gun is
connected to the end of the pipe and as the operating zone is isolated from others, the gun
is fired, and fractures are created in the formation.

Slide 6 Second picture

In 2014, the Sinopec Engineering Institute developed a full bore keyway fracturing slide
sleeve.. Its working principle is: after determining the fracture location, a number of slip
sleeves and casing pipe string are sent into the well. A dedicated rubber stopper is placed
at the wellhead and delivered to the corresponding slip sleeve by means of a hydraulic
pump. When the pump is in place, the key assembly can be used to realize the pressure
suppression. After the threshold value is reached, the slip sleeve is opened, the inner
sleeve is moved downwards, the fracturing hole is opened, and the fracturing operation is
carried out. The remaining position of the same principle applies for fracturing, and finally
the end of construction, rubber stopper back to the wellhead.

Slide 7
The first aspect that should be taken into account is the permeability tendency which
influence the productivity index. The productivity index is calculated for vertical well and only
difference is the ratio of horizontal and vertical permeabilities. If the well is not fractured
from horizontal well the main flow regime is vertical flow to the horizontal fractures.
However, the fractures can be created in the same flat with horizontal well, or in directions
perpendicular to horizontally layered formations. So, the fluid flows will be different in the
fractures and the productivity will be influenced. If the horizontal well is drilled in a formation
where vertical permeability is low, then production will be less and fractures perpendicular
to horizontal well should be created. This is because the hydrocarbons tend to flow in
horizontal direction, and fractures vertical to horizontal well creates vertical well effect and
the production rate is enhanced. This process is different in vertical wells as the dominance
of horizontal permeability cause almost best production. On the other hand, if the vertical
fractured the fractures are mainly in horizontal direction and perpendicular to the well and
they are effective in the formations where the ratio of vertical permeability to horizontal
permeability is higher.

Slide 8 First part

One of the considerations in fracturing vertical and horizontal wells is to analyze the
accumulation of particles in the wellbore and fractures. As it is obvious several solid
particles as well as chemicals are used in fracturing fluids and their settlement velocity is
different. The vertical wells have fast delivery of fracturing fluid to the targeted zones and
settling of particles in the wellbore before reaching the fracturing zones is less probable
than horizontal wells. Not only settlement time and velocity should be studied in the wells,
but also the reactivity of the chemicals should be investigated further. It is obvious that
some chemical additives are used fracturing fluids, and it is required to process fracturing
as fast as possible to avoid reactions of chemicals with formation material.

Slide 8 Second part

• Penetration depth is shorter in vertical wells
• Higher perforation density is used in longitudinal and orthogonal fractures in
horizontal wells
• Cross-sectional area of the perforation tunnels is larger in horizontal wells